Proper way to check barrel wall thickness.

[Dennis]

Russ, thanks so much for the link to the Hosford barrel thickness gauge. I had always wondered how the barrels were measured. Now I know. That made my day.

Dennis

[Quack me up!]

Originally Posted by Dennis V. Nix

Russ, thanks so much for the link to the Hosford barrel thickness gauge. I had always wondered how the barrels were measured. Now I know. That made my day.

Dennis

+1 Thanks much!!

[Bill Murphy]

Before you give the gunsmith your instructions, make sure he even has a gauge. "Gunsmith" is a very relative term in this country. A very large percentage of them do not own a wall thickness gauge and an even larger percentage do not own a Hosford gauge.

[Quack me up!]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Before you give the gunsmith your instructions, make sure he even has a gauge. "Gunsmith" is a very relative term in this country. A very large percentage of them do not own a wall thickness gauge and an even larger percentage do not own a Hosford gauge.

I'm finding that out in a hurry!! "We have a caliper" seems to be a common answer. I have two places that have a good reputation in general that I'll be calling on Mon. morning.

[Opening Day]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Before you give the gunsmith your instructions, make sure he even has a gauge. "Gunsmith" is a very relative term in this country. A very large percentage of them do not own a wall thickness gauge and an even larger percentage do not own a Hosford gauge.

And alot of them that own a wall thickness gauge (old style) don't have any idea how to use it..

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

Before you give the gunsmith your instructions, make sure he even has a gauge. "Gunsmith" is a very relative term in this country. A very large percentage of them do not own a wall thickness gauge and an even larger percentage do not own a Hosford gauge.

right you are - one local shop uses a bore gauge inside and a caliper outside -subtract and divide by two

[OH Osthaus]

if someone is doing it for you, I would make sure they measure the whole length and circumference of both tubes and identify the MINUMUM wall thickness they find. 25 or 30 thousands most spots is great unless they miss a spot where a dent had been raised and that left 15 thousands right next to your finger on the foreend.

I expect tedious to do the first few times(I'll know when I finish my set up). But someone who does it often can do it very smoothly - Jack Rowe checked out a set of barrels for me at one of the early vintagers, it would have taken me longer to calibrate the settings.